The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are making history, becoming the first professional sports cheerleading squad to form a union.<\/p>\n
The iconic 36-member squad recently announced the formation of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association, a significant move that comes after years of conversations about pay and working conditions \u2014 and a Netflix series that brought those issues into the international spotlight.<\/p>\n
The move gives the cheerleaders a new opportunity to negotiate for themselves as part of one of the most recognizable brands in professional sports.<\/p>\n
“It gives you a voice and your voice has power behind it,” said Camille Avant, a labor and employment attorney with Dallas-based Crawford, Wishnew & Lang.<\/p>\n
“Usually what drives someone to unionize is because they are wanting better benefits; they\u2019re wanting better pay,” Avant said.<\/p>\n
Netflix spotlight brings new attention to cheerleaders’ pay<\/p>\n
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, known as America’s Sweethearts, have long been part of the Cowboys’ billion-dollar brand.<\/p>\n
But the Netflix series “America’s Sweethearts” changed the game, giving viewers an unfiltered look at the squad’s demanding tryouts, training camp and performances.<\/p>\n
The series turned members of the squad into household names while revealing how many of the women balanced full-time jobs with the demanding Cowboys schedule \u2014 often for relatively little pay.<\/p>\n
The attention also brought renewed focus to a years-long fight for better compensation.<\/p>\n
“We were getting $8 an hour,” said Erica Williams, a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.<\/p>\n
Williams sued the Cowboys in 2018 over pay. The team eventually settled the lawsuit, leading to a doubling of the cheerleaders’ per-game pay from $200 to $400.<\/p>\n
“It was scary. It was hard; it came at a great personal cost,” Williams said.<\/p>\n
Williams spoke with NBC 5 in 2025, after the Netflix series helped empower current team leaders to push for additional compensation.<\/p>\n
That push led to a 400% pay increase announced in 2025.<\/p>\n
A new chapter for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders<\/p>\n
Now, the formation of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association marks another significant step for the squad.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement, the union and the Dallas Cowboys emphasized the cheerleaders’ importance to the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are an esteemed part of the Cowboys organization, deeply respected for their talent and dedication they exhibit. They remain one of the most sought-after opportunities for talented dancers worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The historic unionization effort could also have implications beyond Dallas, potentially inspiring other professional cheerleading squads to pursue collective bargaining.<\/p>\n
Avant said the Cowboys Cheerleaders have something that sets them apart \u2014 a recognizable brand and following that extends beyond the football team itself.<\/p>\n
“Because they can stand on their own without the Cowboys players, they have the ability to come to the table and leverage and negotiate what\u2019s best for them. And I think they are the first of what is probably many to come at this point,” Avant said.<\/p>\n
For a squad known around the world for its boots, beauty and precision performances, the formation of a union represents a new kind of bargaining power.<\/p>\n
And it could be just the beginning for professional cheerleaders across the country.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are making history, becoming the first professional sports cheerleading squad to form a union.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,113,104,103],"class_list":["post-477673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}